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Fleet Ambassador, why is it so out of favor?
chance74
Member Posts: 51 Arc User
Hey, gang. I'm reading over all the stats, and really can't see a significant downside to the Fleet Ambassador vis a vis the Fleet Excelsior for a Fed Tac.
For BOffs, you gain a universal on the Ambassador for five total tactical skills vs. three total tactical skills on the Excelsior (sure, one is a Lt Cmdr level skill). That is if you care about tactical skills.
You loose one tactical console and the transwarp drive as well as a smidge of turn rate on the Ambassador.
But you gain 550 hull hit points instead.
They seem to balance each other pretty well. But the Fleet Excelsior seems to be the preferred one.
Can the site gurus help me understand why?
I'm mainly thinking Aux2Bat DPS Tank build. My first one. Want to spend the FSMs wisely.
For BOffs, you gain a universal on the Ambassador for five total tactical skills vs. three total tactical skills on the Excelsior (sure, one is a Lt Cmdr level skill). That is if you care about tactical skills.
You loose one tactical console and the transwarp drive as well as a smidge of turn rate on the Ambassador.
But you gain 550 hull hit points instead.
They seem to balance each other pretty well. But the Fleet Excelsior seems to be the preferred one.
Can the site gurus help me understand why?
I'm mainly thinking Aux2Bat DPS Tank build. My first one. Want to spend the FSMs wisely.
Post edited by chance74 on
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TT1, CSV1
TT1, CSV1
TS1
EPtS1, AtB1, AtB2, RSP3
HE1, TSS2, GW1 (or to taste)
The second TT and CSV aren't worth much with AtB, and GW is doing next to nothing with just 5 Aux, and only getting reduced to a 40 second CD. An Excel lends itself to a much more effective build, perhaps:
TT1, CSV1, APB2
EPtS1, AtB1, RSP2, Extend 3 (or to taste)
EPtW1, AtB1
ET1
HE1, TSS2
The only largely wasted ability there is the ET1, and it's not bad to have around. The rest offers much better DPS and equal survivability, plus the extra turn rate that makes it easier to use.
The strength of the Ambassador is as a sci heavy cruiser, unfortunately with sci in it's current state, that's not much of a strength.
Mind you this was MONTHS ago, but it was fun.
It SHOULD have been more popular.
But personally, I'll never use it. I was never a fan of the Ambassador's look. I liked the look of the TOS/TMP era ships with the Connies, Mirandas, and Excelsiors. I liked the look ships had with TNG onwards. But the Ambassador? Nah. Something about its design just doesn't tug on me.
maybe a: TT1;APb/d
BFAW1;APb/d
BFAW1
thing could be worth it, but then the tac oddy is better for that.
anyway, a nice science heavy cruiser appart from the oddy (which would be better for that role)
personally i'd say that this BOFF/console layout would have been deserved by the Galaxy class...but i guess cryptic saw it differently.
You basically listed all the reasons why the Fleet Excelsior is generally preferred over the Fleet Ambassador. This game, as it is currently, is a dps race and the Excelsior is a superior tactical cruiser. It's more maneuverable, has access to LtCmd Tac abilities, and has four tac consoles. All that = more damage. On the other hand the Fleet Ambassador is obviously more flexible because of it's Lt Universal bridge officer slot and balanced console layout. Unfortunately the Fleet Ambassador is also beat in the flexibility department by the Odyssey and its two universal stations.
DPS cruiser - Go Fleet Excelsior or Sovereign
SCI cruiser - Go Oddy
Tank cruiser - Go Fleet Galaxy... maybe?
...I'd still pick the Fleet Ambassador over the Fleet Galaxy for tanking...or rather I did.;)
After testing the Galaxy-R on my Engineer wayyy back when the ship was new and I really REALLY wanted to like her...I decided to stay in my Star Cruiser until something better came along.
And with the Ambassador it finally did.
The big problem with the Galaxy is the overabundance of Engineering BOs which leads to far too many shared cooldowns that you can't avoid. And while I still have the Galaxy-R stashed away, even testing her with the recent changes to the mechanics never made me happy either.
With the Fleet Ambassador you don't have such problems along with a more practical console layout compared to the 5 Engineering consoles in the Fleet Galaxy.
As far as the hull strength is concerned, the difference is actually negligible.
Fleet Support: 43,450@turnrate 7
Fleet Exploration: 44,000@turnrate 6
and both have the same shields.
I think one of the reasons the Ambassador is seen so seldomly is because she arrived too late for those who already had found and bought the Oddy as a really good tanker.
With her the market was saturated...no wonder given her big profile.:P
Also, a lot of people seem to enjoy the special abilities the Oddy provides while the Ambassador is really a "no frills", no nonsense yet reasonably flexible tanker.:)
There is no reason to ever use the Fleet Galaxy. It's junk! As for "tanking" all the federation cruisers have a lot of engineering stations. They can all soak up a lot of damage with the right skills and gear.
5 possible tactical abilities are nothing to sneeze at considering it is backed up by a lt comdr science wich can add to that by debuffing or giving the attackes some of their damage back via feedback pulse II. Although last option works best if you already have the aggro.
my recommendation for a conventional cruiser built would be
TT1 , BFAW 2
BFAW 1, TS 2
TS 1
EPTW 1,EPTS 2, AtS 2, RSP 3
TSS 1, HE 2, FBP II
2 conn officers, 1 projectile officer, 1 damage controle officer, 1 exocomp
Loadout wise id recommend
3 beam arrays of your choosing (i use fleet adv. phasers 2xacc 2xdmg), wide angle torp or omega torp
maco set or adapted maco , i use omega deflector, + adapted maco engines and shield
Warpcore with extra aux for your science stuff
3 beam arrays of your choosing + 1 torp or kinetic cutting beam
weapons battery, shield battery, aux battery, subspace field modulator
if you can get them, put in the assimilated module, nukara console, tachyokinetic converter, zero point energy conduit, rule 62 console, plasma infuser embassy console and the plasmonic leech
add 4x tactical consoles for your energy weapons.
put skills in beams and torpedoes and get all space traits available other than precise.
Youll be doing damage costantly and at a reasonably high level. you got enough heals to survive all but the most overwhelming forces and be somewhat nimble for a fed cruiser.
Play it to its strenght and with high end gear youll be serving more damage than most cruisers do.
However if you look for raw dps without relyance to aggro or debuffs the fleet excelsior is more suited to that.
For pure damage it needs to go for an aux to bat built and there are other ships that can do that better, however it can be done buti the concept of ditching your aux for rapid cooldowns is kinda illogical if you use alot of science powers. Sure you can go through aux batteries like crazy or combined batteries to compensate but the later is mighty expensive and it requires a whole lot of good timing. All in all its just a bit impractical but certainly not impossible.
Its a nice alrounder wich can compete in endgame and is a nice support cruiser wich can hold its own. It is more flexible than an excelsior and can do more fun stuff than the fleet sovereign and it can do good damage while still retaining its science capabilities, something the odessey struggles to to a bit since most configurations use the lt cmdr for tactical.
The Odessy isnt realy complete without its 3 set consoles wich take up quite soem room for more usefull consoles like those mentioned above.
However, making it do alot of damage and thereby competitive requires you to play to its strenght and to invest heavily into gear.
Squeezing max damage out of fed cruisers isnt cheap at all.
When it comes to looks its as always a matter of taste , i like the yamaguchi version alot although it would look even better with a type 6 hull skin (like most fed ships).
Rating it id say its definitly in the top 3 of cruisers for doing damage sharing its place with the odessey if doen right.
Its only realy outmatched in that regard by the fleet sovereign and the fleet excelsior.
In an Overall utility rating id say the fleet ambassador is the top dog at the moment b ut again it shares its place with the odessey.
If you like most of what the Oddy can do but in a more nimble fashion and if you like her looks you wont regret to fly the fleet ambassador.
Most important hting is to have fun so go for it if you like it.
Imho the most awesomesauce you can get is the Fleet
Excelsior because it can do massive damage, be nimble, tank well and heal plus the fun of transwaring all over the galaxy map is just unbeaten in fun. But some hat its looks but thats true for most ships so who cares.
The Fleet assault might have a little extra in damage potential because of the tactical ensign but in all honesty a second ensign ability on a tac cruiser somewhat redundant and id rather have another eng ensign for another Eptx or Eng team, wich both are limited in utility but can save your rearend if you have to disengage for healing.